Barangay officials object planting of Bt talong at Visayas State University; Visayan farmers says no to Bt talong

Press Release
By MASIPAG
February 16, 2011

LAGUNA, Philippines  –  Farmer-scientist network MASIPAG (Magsasaka at Siyentipiko para sa Pag-Unlad ng Agrikultura) commends Barangay Panasugan officials in passing a resolution objecting the planting of Bt talong at the Visayas State University (VSU). VSU campus is located in Barangay Panasugan and the university falls under its jurisdiction.  VSU is one of the multi-location sites selected for the open field testing of genetically modified talong.

According to the resolution penned last January 22, 2011, “the people surrounding the Visayas State University (VSU) campus are concerned about their field testing experiment because the technology has not been thoroughly studied or assessed in the Philippines and this will eventually result in contamination of related plant species growing near the area, among other health, environmental and socio-cultural aspects which are not yet fully understood.” Copies of the resolution will be forwarded to the offices of the VSU president, Mayor and Vice-Mayor of Baybay and the Governor’s office of Leyte.

The barangay resolution also pointed out that the barangay council has yet to receive data on ‘pollen flow’ which may contaminate surrounding plants in the area due to cross-pollination and may pose risk to health, and that the area is critical in terms of biodiversity and is a biodiversity ‘hotspot’ in Leyte. It also stated that no public consultation was made, especially to the farmers of the barangay about the intended field trial on Bt talong.

Before the year 2010 ended, Clarito Barron of the Bureau of Plant Industry ordered Dr. Desiree Hautea, Project Leader of the Bt talong project based in UPLB to suspend the field tests in UP Mindanao and VSU due to non-compliance on the posting of the Public Information Sheet (PIS) in the Baybay Municipal Hall and the city hall of Davao.

Further, two additional resolutions were also passed requesting the offices of Dr. Rosario Salas, Project Leader of the open field trials of Bt talong in VSU and Dr. Hautea of UPLB to provide a copy of the memorandum of understanding between VSU and UPLB about the said project. It also requested details of all research activities and biosafety measures to be undertaken related to the Bt talong project.

Dr. Chito Medina, national coordinator of MASIPAG said that the action undertaken by the barangay is just, as they are using the precautionary principle to protect their constituents. “We commend the officials of Barangay Panasugan for making the right decision in order to promote the general welfare of their constituents. In effect, the farmers of Visayas region are objecting to the planting of Bt talong as the municipality of Sta. Barbara, Iloilo has also objected the planned field trial in their area.”

Medina added that the introduction of Bt eggplant would not solve the current woes of the farmers. “There are alternative means to control pest infestation which are safer and less expensive. Bt talong would only further aggravate the problem of farmers on saving seeds and appropriate technologies as these are being taken away through corporate control of seeds and technologies.”

Clarissa Cruzada, MASIPAG cluster coordinator in Leyte, said they have been closely monitoring the site and the posting of the PIS in the barangay and the municipal offices after reports from a newspaper stated that the field testing would push through according to a university official. The news also stated that PIS were already posted in immediate villages of Panasugan and Guadalupe, but they have yet to see copies of the posted PIS.

Bt talong is an eggplant genetically modified to produce a toxin to combat the Fruit and Shoot Borer (FSB). Bt stands for Bacillus thuringiensis, a soil bacteria whose genes are inserted to the eggplant to produce toxins against FSB. Bt talong, which was originally from India, is now being tested in different sites across the Philippines for planned commercialization this year. In India however, the Minister on Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh order a moratorium on the commercialization of Bt Brinjal (Indian term for eggplant) due to concerns on health, environment and control of agrochem giant Monsanto in their food systems. The Bt brinjal developer Mahyco is a local subsidiary of Monsanto.